But, it really makes me feel like we made the right call. From this blog: (don’t actually go to that blog… there’s some horrible music that you can’t actually stop…)

Meanwhile I am also learning about Human Resources as the Staff Communications Liaison for CKMS 100.3 FM . As the university has decided to remove student funding from us, we are currently laying off all of our staff with the exception of 2, and there are many legal issues involving severance, vacation pay, permanent/temporary layoff, reference letters, rights and privileges of the employee once they leave (for example, they are allowed to purchase their existing laptop for 1$; but we have to make sure that all the content on the laptop is transferred, and this involves third parties, etc); then we are rebranding our entire radio station, in hopes of giving ourselves a fresh face, to hopefully get the support of the students and the university back. So we’re in the heat of things now, with meeting with the student council, designing, policy-making, committee forming, many many board meetings…

Man! CKMS just can’t seem to stop! So, yes, TECHNICALLY the board of governors were the ones who removed student funding, as it’s the University board that collects and dispurses ALL fees. HOWEVER! A 2-1 vote where the student body said that it did NOT feel it should pay the CKMS fee any longer prompted Feds to recommend to the board that the fee was removed - so, while technically the University did it; a 2-1 vote WAS held; and is the REASON for the removal.

“So many legal issues”… I can’t buy that there’re all that many. People get fired every day. A company without procedures for something as simple as firing someone is a company in trouble.

“Rights and privilages of the employee once they leave” including BUYING THEIR LAPTOP for $1?!?!? Hell; how much to buy the photocopier? $1 is less then the price of a sandwich. Laptops don’t go bad (OK, their batteries may, but still…). They can sit in a closet until they need to go somewhere - or even better run an auction (CKMS obviously could use the money). Bonus: If you put the laptop in a closet; you don’t need to worry about what information is where. It’ll cost them more then $1 to format and reinstall Windows!

“Rebranding” is all well and good; but CKMS has failed to represent itself to the students for a long time. I’d wager someone in a high position got a bit of a god-complex (the bits of info I can pick up here and there seem to confirm that). Bet the little King wasn’t one of the people who was axed.

I’ve said it before and I”ll say it again - declare it dead. Pick up a storage locker for dirt cheap and put all the equipment in it. Try again in 4 years with a completely new bunch of people.

The interesting thing is that they’re in a University building - and they’re now a pretty well completely independent radio corporation. What does that do to their lease? What does that do to their broadcast license?

This article is quote overload. A male seal sexually assaulted a penguin.

Why the seal attempted to have sex with the penguin is unclear.

The brazenness of the seal’s behaviour left those who saw it in no doubt as to what was happening.

Marion Island is the only place in the world where Antarctic fur seals are known to hunt king penguins on land, so the idea that the fur seal was trying to eat the object of its attention made sense.

“But then we realised that the seal’s intentions were rather more amorous.”

The researchers speculate that the male seal was too young to win access to female seals, and in a state of sexual excitement, looked elsewhere.

But the mating season was nearly over when the incident took place, leading the scientists to also wonder whether the seal’s natural predatory aggression toward the bird became redirected into sexual arousal.

Okay… so… it’s been a while since I last posted (although, I’m posting sooner then Roborant, Danger, Caleb, Niamu, Stew, Tinglez, and Woo; so I shouldn’t feel too bad. THEY should feel bad. When you finish wiping away the tears, continue reading.)

Exams are now over; today I just got back 3/4 marks. Results this term are… reasonable. I did well. I was hoping for better in one class especially; but I think I had a reasonable performance.

I’m now living in Stratford, and working at the same place I worked last summer. I work there M-F, 8:30-4:30 (though, if you count the commute, I leave home at 8:00 and get back at 5:00).

I’m also taking two courses this summer - CS100 (I need a credit) and Greek Culture (I need a language credit). The CS100 is DE; I’m hoping to have all the labs for the entire course finished by the end of next week; and if they give us the assignments in advance my goal is to have those done inside of a month. The Greek Culture class is on campus in Waterloo. So, if you’re in Waterloo on Wednesdays, I’ll be bored and hungry from about 5:00 - 7:00. I might also end up staying over at my sister’s place in Waterloo some nights (she’s living in Stratford too; but where I’m working this summer is closer to Waterloo than Stratford is); so depending on how well rested and busy I am; I might be up for some evening stuff after class. Maybe I’ll make it to a Bomber Wednesday yet, haha.

Adding to the hellishness; I’m writing the LSAT in June. The LSAT is a major factor in whether or not you get into law school.

I’m also hoping to get a head start on my Senior Honours Thesis for Sociology. Not a whole lot; I just want to know exactly what my topic is and who my adviser is, so I can hit the ground running.

So: Job, courses, LSAT, Thesis. Those are the big things that need doing this summer. I’ll be so glad in June when the LSAT is over with; that’ll be one big giant thing off my plate.

So; busy summer, but I’m cautiously optimistic.

Man… and look at it! There’s a process! There are CANDIDATES! They seem to give a damn!

At least it’s not the standard, cliched speech.

I mean; come on. Just TRY buying a motherboard with specific features. It’s impossible.

I’m trying to keep my eyes open for a motherboard with a wack of SATA connectors, S-Video out, and Gigabit ethernet.

None of those are banner features; and pretty much everything else doesn’t matter to me - I’m not particularly attached to AMD or Intel, so it doesn’t matter what “socket type” a drive is; nor do I care exactly what kind of RAM a system uses.

In general, I’ve got to dig so damn deep into every bloody mobo for sale to try and see if it’s got the features i need. It’s a gigantic pain.

There’s no way to search for “boards with S-Video out”; and in general all the boards on sites selling them are arranged by socket type - which strikes me as more of an arbitrary division then anything else. Ultimately, I’m buying a motherboard for its features, right? Socket type is just ONE of many features.

Microsoft has just provided us with the ultimate argument against DRM.

Microsoft used to run “MSN Music”, a service which allowed you to download tracks. These tracks were then “authorized” to play on your particular computer, and on your particular operating system, by a central server. Up to 5 computers were “authorizable” at once.

Now, after MSN Music has died, they’re pulling the plug on those authorization servers; meaning that all of that DRM’d music will NEVER be able to be heard on a new PC.

So… you bought it, and now it will disappear as soon as your current PC goes kaput.

Tell me again, music industry, customers are stealing from YOU? If the music industry wants to use DRM, it should be required to release the tools to crack that DRM when the technology is no longer viable (or at least allow people to upgrade their music to the “newest DRM” for free).

For the analog version, this is like you putting all your stuff inside someone’s safe; then that person walked off and threw out the key.

So, it looks like we now have a definitive example of exactly what everyone knew would happen with DRM - a big company’s strategy fails, and all your music is down the tubes.